The present invention relates to apparatus for teaching and practising hockey and methods of teaching and practising hockey skills.
1. Background of the Invention
Hockey is a game involving a variety of highly developed skills, including skating, shooting, passing, and also one of the hardest skills to master, namely stickhandling. Proper stickhandling requires the skillful manipulation of a puck while keeping one""s head up, often during high speed skating maneuvers. Accordingly, learning and subsequently remembering to keep one""s head up while stickhandling is very difficult. Moreover, a person""s dependence on vision for tasks and skill development further reinforces the natural tendency in hockey to look at the puck while stickhandling.
One reason stickhandling with one""s head up is so difficult to learn and subsequently master, is that a constant reminder is required during stickhandling practice to keep one""s head up and not look at the puck. It is very difficult to Provide the necessary instruction and visual target while a player is stickhandling on an ice rink.
Moreover, in order to learn the art of stickhandling, it is necessary to practice for many hours on an ongoing basis. Typically, there is very little ice time during a hockey game or hockey practice for each player to be taught and practice stickhandling, thus, stickhandling with one""s head up is generally not well learned.
Typically, during a hockey game, each player is on the ice only for about one third of the game and on average would handle the puck one tenth of the time since there are five players per team and two teams. This translates to about two minutes of handling of the puck, on average, during a game, and onlyl part of this two minutes is spent stickhandling. Moreover, the players who have the best stickhandling skills usually have the puck much more than other players of lesser stickhandling ability. Accordingly, the players of lesser stickhandling ability, who need more practice, actually have the puck for very little time during a game.
Also, during a hockey practice on a hockey rink, the most valuable use of time is to practice plays and other drills that cannot be practiced off-ice. Accordingly, during a hockey practice, a very limited amount of stickhandling is taught and practiced. Moreover, drills that can be practiced off ice, are usually practiced without the assistance of a coach, and therefore are usually not practiced properly, thus resulting in proper techniques not being learned.
2. Prior Art
Various prior art devices exist that attempt to provide means to learn and practice stickhandling. None of these prior art devices teaches the necessary skills properly, and neither provides proper means for teaching a hockey player to keep one""s head up.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,816,945, issued to Todd et al, discloses a hockey training device secured by a swivel attachment at one end to a hockey stick near the bottom end of the shaft and secured at its opposite end to a puck. Essentially, this hockey training device merely tethers the puck to the hockey stick, thus precluding the puck from traveling out of reach during stickhandling practice. It is believed that tethering a hockey puck to a hockey stick teaches an unnatural stickhandling effort, which is very undesirable. Further, it provides no specific means for teaching heads-up stickhandling.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,955,815, issued to Deschesnes, discloses a hockey training device having a simulated puck, adapted to be propelled by a hockey stick over a playing surface. The puck is connected, through a slot, to a movable carriage beneath the playing surface. The carriage is connected to the resilient member, the force of which can be adjusted. The force of the resilient member must be overcome in propelling the puck, thus strengthening the player""s shot. The resilient member returns the puck to a start position after each practice shot. This hockey training device is for improving a player""s shot strength only.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,249,797, issued to Dowhy, discloses a hockey training aid and game apparatus, including a portable housing having a base unit and a cover connected to the base unit. A first sensor assembly is recessed in the center of the floor and is used for monitoring accurate puck handling. A second sensor assembly comprising ribbon sensors located in spaced relation generally surrounding the first sensor assembly monitor inaccurate puck handling. Each time the puck, which has a permanent magnet inside, passes over the first sensor assembly, a first counter is tallied. Similarly, each time the puck passes over the second sensor assembly, a second counter is tallied. A player""s score is determined by subtracting the second score from the first score. It can be seen that in order to help maximize a player""s score, it is necessary to pass the puck over the first sensor assembly as quickly as possible, thus encouraging a player to stickhandle in an unrealistic manner within an extremely confined central area. Reinforcement of this is realized by the subtractive penalty incurred for moving the puck over the second sensor assembly, and thus outside this extremely confined central area. This manner of stickhandling is not representative whatsoever of proper stickhandling that would be used during a hockey game. Further, it encourages a player to look downwardly so as to be able to see the first and second sensor assemblies, instead of teaching a player to look up while stickhandling.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a means to teach a hockey player to keep his head up while stickhandling.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a means to permit a hockey player to practice the art of stickhandling while keeping his head up.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a means to permit a hockey player to learn and practice realistic stickhandling skills.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a means to permit a hockey player to learn and practice useful stickhandling patterns.
3. Summary of the Invention
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, there is disclosed a novel hockey practice apparatus comprising a thin mat member having a length and a width each substantially greater than its thickness, a generally centrally disposed longitudinal axis extending along its length, and including a bottom stratum presenting a slippage precluding bottom surface and a top stratum adjoined to the bottom stratum and presenting a low friction substantially planar top surface for receiving a hockey puck in free sliding relation thereon.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, there is disclosed a novel method of teaching hockey skills comprising the steps of:
(a) providing a practice surface for receiving a hockey puck thereon;
(b) initially placing a visual target adjacent the practice surface so as to be viewable concurrently with the practice surface by a practising player standing beside the practice surface and stickhandling the puck with a hockey stick, thereby encouraging the practising player to look at the visual target while stickhandling the puck with a hockey stick; and,
(c) subsequently moving the visual target to a superior position in the practising player""s field of view, thereby encouraging the practising player to look up while stickhandling the puck with a hockey stick.
Other advantages, features and characteristics of the present invention, as well as functions of the related elements of the structure, and the combination of parts and economies of manufacture, will become more apparent upon consideration of the following detailed description and the appended claims with reference to the accompanying drawings, the latter of which is briefly described hereinbelow.